Just like the US, Huawei and ZTE 5G banned from Japanese govt computers

Japan’s government has issued instructions Monday effectively banning China’s Huawei and ZTE from official contracts, while the country’s top three telecom operators plan to follow suit, Japanese media reported Monday. As if 5G equipment bans from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand weren’t enough this year, Huawei will end 2018 on an even worse note.

Japan’s decision comes less than a month after the United States reportedly lobbied several overseas allies to block Chinese cellular hardware from their wireless networks, in part due to concerns over monitoring of U.S. military base communications. The Reuters source of this Japan information said that the primary motive behind the expected ban is security concerns.

In Britain, BT Group is removing Huawei equipment from its existing 3G and 4G networks, and will not use Huawei for future networks. However, there is no rumored government ban in the works as far as the United Kingdom goes.

The Japanese ban will cover purchases of personal
computers, servers and telecommunications equipment by the government
and Self-Defense Forces over concerns that viruses embedded in the
equipment could cause systems to fail or could leak sensitive
information, including military operations, to China, Nikkei reported.

But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the new rules were not targeting any particular company.

“In
order to secure cybersecurity, we are aware that it is extremely
important to make sure we would not procure equipment with functions of
malicious intention,” he told a news conference Monday.

“Accordingly
those ministries and agencies related to this issue met today to ensure
cybersecurity related to IT procurement within the government,” he
said. “The purpose is to stipulate at each ministry and agency what
system and procurement procedures should be protected, and it is not to
eliminate specific companies or equipment.

James Barnley

I’m the editor of the DomainingAfrica. I write about internet and social media, focusing mainly on Domains. As a subscriber to my newsletter, you’ll get a lot of information on Domain Issues, ICANN, new gtld’s, Mobile technology and social media.